Alastair Thain

Sidney Poitier, Los Angeles, 1996

Sir Sidney Poitier is a Bahamian-American actor, film director, author, and diplomat. Sidney Poitier is often described as one of the first black mainstream actors, breaking into Hollywood, in a time when this was unheard of. Poitier was the first Bahamian and first black actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in 1964 for his role in Lilies of the Field. These groundbreaking achievements significance was only bolstered in 1967, when he starred in three successful films, all of which dealt with issues involving race and race relations: To Sir, with love, In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, making him the top box-office star of that year. In 1999, the American Film Institute names Poitier among the Greatest Male Stars of classic Hollywood cinema. In 1974 Poitier was knighted, in 2009 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honour, by President Barack Obama and in 2016, he was award the BAFTA Fellowship for outstanding lifetime achievement in film.